


Player Select

by huckleberriess



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Free Verse, Other, Poetry, Spoilers, Themes of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-23 00:18:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7459204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huckleberriess/pseuds/huckleberriess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>children deal with different hurts in different ways</p>
            </blockquote>





	Player Select

player 1 / player 2

the day they go up the mountain is the happiest day of their lives  
the road out of the city is long and they have time to think  
they are leaving nothing behind

 

P1

they have a problem with putting things in their mouth – mud, sweaty hands, plastic forks, the neighbor kid’s arm when he was 5 and they were 6 because he called them crazy and they didn’t like that

a dog bites them back one day and they’re so shocked they don’t even kick it. they didn’t even bite down hard, they just put its ear in their mouth. they thought it would understand because dogs do that

they put a word in there on their first day back at school, it was fuck, the woman they live with tells them to wash their mouth out with soap. but they decide early on that the soap isn’t worth it

so chara tapes their mouth shut and stops eating.

they take to sleeping on the ground, the dirt winds up a better home, its touch doesn’t make their skin burn. the flowers teach them how to be alive

 

P2

something tugs on them everywhere they go. it’s been tugging for a really long time, they wonder if it ever gets tired. they hear noises coming from the ground and curl up with an ear pressed against the wooden floor. someday, they’ll be able to understand them.

they like to climb up rafters of empty buildings that have no friends. they tell stories to the beams  and lay down on the spots where the sun hits. they have a lot in common with homes that aren’t homes

at night they remember what _not_ _enough_ means. people come in and go out, or go in and come out, leaving, always leaving, always hurting. they reach out their hand but their voice doesn’t work

so frisk tapes their mouth shut and never speaks again.

once, they wished to be a time traveler, and then they wished they hadn’t. they have nightmares about other lives. they’re nervous for the part where their real mother holds them.

***

being alone doesn’t teach you how to survive. it only teaches you how to be alone. you sleep in the soil and you run from every home you find; your arms get cut up and you never get enough water  
but there will be plenty when you go up the mountain

*[continue]                          *restart

(when you wake up, you’re surprised. because there _is_.)  
(…but you can’t drink with tape over your mouth.)

***

<your brother probably blames himself – good, it’s his fault – it was your idea – and it would have worked if he wasn’t so weak – oh. is he the weak one? – shut your fucking mouth, look what he did to me – look what _you_ did to _him_ – shut your fucking mouth – hey, stop it. you’re talking to yourself again >

<<i love them so much – what? _–_ i love them all soo much!! – they tried to kill you – they were only scared – and what were we? – exactly – you’re not making any sense – they were scared, so they need love – stop it. you’re talking to yourself again – no. no, please. don’t do that to me – what – _I’m not you._ >>

 

player 1                                                                                             player 2

everyone deserves to feel alone                                                         no one else should have to feel alone  
because i do                                                                                      because i do  
“try as you might, you continue to be                                                “despite everything, it’s still  
yourself.”                                                                                           you.”  
*[fight]                   *mercy                                                                *fight                        *[mercy]  
*[erase]                  *save                                                                  *erase                       *[save]  
~~but nobody came~~                                                                                ~~but nobody came~~

 

P1 (part 1)

the tragedy that came before the main event. a sad story you read up on in order to beat the game. the ones who didn’t make it to the happy ending. the ones who didn’t deserve one.

chara rips the tape off and swallows down the earth that raised them, swallows down the poison and the vomit, swallows down the lives of everyone that ever laid a finger on them.

 

P2 (part 2)

no. rewrite it. that’s not how it ends. cartoons are real. people are good. the mouse will get the cheese, and _everyone_ deserves to be happy. you decide to live. and you can’t save everyone from hurting or from dying, but maybe you can save something else.

frisk rips the tape off and calls out a name.

***

being alone doesn’t teach you how to survive, but sometimes, it can teach you to rebuild  
at the end of the world they find a mirror  
at the end of the world they find themselves


End file.
